A Virtue of Optimism
by Joseph Rowlands
One of the characteristics that is common to most of the Objectivist virtues is an identification of things that have the possibility of getting in the way of acting effectively and rationally. Honesty, for instance, points out how acting on the unreal is counterproductive, and that only a focus on what's real can lead to effective action. Independence highlights how being willing to act on your best judgment isn't enough, and that you need to have the means (mental or financial) to allow you to follow your judgment. Integrity describes how we can feel pressure from people or emotions to act in a way that is contrary to our best judgment.
Another problem occurs when people blind themselves to opportunities or potential values. In order to pursue values, you have to be able and willing to recognize their potential, and you have to accept that they can be achieved. A sufficiently negative view can act as a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. If you think a value can't be achieved, you won't even try and so guarantee your failure.
Pride is already viewed as a virtue in Objectivism. It recognizes that you must view yourself capable of dealing with the world and capable of achieving values. It recognizes the importance of self-confidence and an expectation of competence. As a virtue, it doesn't call for these to be faked. Instead, suggests that you take actions that improve you capabilities so that you can rationally evaluate your capabilities.
Pride focus on your own abilities, but that isn't all that's required to pursue a value. There must be an expectation that the value can even be achieved. Part of this is the benevolent universe premise, which suggests that we are fit for living on earth and that success and happiness are possible to us. It rejects a malevolent view of the world where we are doomed to frustration and success is stolen from us at every turn.
But a virtue isn't just a feeling about the world. It is a kind of purposeful behavior. So if optimism is a virtue, what kind of choices or behaviors would it encourage?
For starters, it would encourage us to look for opportunities and potential benefits. Values don't present themselves to us. We have to look for them. We have to choose to take the kinds of actions that can open up possibilities. If invited out with friends, you can view it as a possible opportunity to meet new people, to have fun, to learn something new, or anything else.
To identify potential values, it helps to be good at identifying values you already have. Understanding why you like the things that you do and how they benefit your life can lead help you see values more clearly. It can also help you identify any needs that aren't well-satisfied in your life, allowing you to look for new values to fulfill those needs. When someone says "I should have bought that when I saw it at the store", they are saying that if they had recognized its value earlier, they would have changed the way they acted. Being prepared to see a value for what it is can make it easier to spot them and act to achieve them.
A virtue of optimism would also encourage you to see that these values can be achieved. One way to do this is by taking chances and acting on your values, and learning what it takes to achieve them. Fear of the unknown can be a major source for believing a value is harder to achieve than it is. So even if you fail, trying can give you a clearer idea of what it takes, and the knowledge that it is possible.
Another method for learning that a value can be achieved is by hearing the experiences of others. Role models also satisfy this function, as one of their greatest values is that they show you it can be done. It also helps when they show you how they did it, but just the knowledge that some task or goal or lifestyle is possible can be enough to encourage you to try.
The virtue of optimism would also provide guidance in how we deal with obstacles in life. It can be easy to focus on costs and risks, or get caught up with problems. A rational optimism might suggest that we deal with problems by looking for solutions. Many problems can be big enough that they seem overwhelming and impossible to deal with. Optimism would suggest looking for solutions instead of looking for reasons why you might fail. It's easy to get discouraged, and it requires you to focus your mind on positive solutions if you want to succeed.
Of course, any talk of optimism can bring to mind the view of optimism as an unrealistic view of the world. Of course this wouldn't be virtuous or rational. It makes no sense to ignore problems, or to contort your view of the world to try to see them as positives. This irrational form of optimism is a method of blinding yourself from negative thoughts. A rational form of optimism would have you focus on reality, but be forward looking. Look for potential positives or solutions so that you can act effectively to improve your life.
Nor is rational optimism an attempt to spin things so that they sound positive. "That glass if half empty? No, it's half full!". The goal isn't to see everything as a positive, as if that itself would improve your life. The goal is to allow you to see the genuinely positive possibilities so that you can work towards them, and to understand that those values can be achieved.
So a virtue of optimism makes sense. It allows you to find opportunities and recognize potential values, which is a necessary step in the process of improving your life.
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